So after watching an episode of ‘The Great British Bake off’ I was practically drooling everywhere, I really wanted to try a more unusual dessert. Now, I am not sure if this counts as unusual but let me explain, when I make puddings and desserts I usually just make a simple sponge cake because it’s easy, and simple to make. When I thought about making this I thought it would have been really difficult but actually, it wasn’t! So for me this is something different, hence it’s unusual to me….

Anyway, this is soooo delicious, even just the white chocolate truffle filling on its own I could eat it’s so good! It also does not require many ingredients, and if you are a baker you are likely to have this all in your kitchen.

Ingredients

For the bases;

– Butter (to grease)

– 3 eggs

– 100 g castar sugar

– 100 g self-raising flour

For the white chocolate sauce;

– 250 g white chocolate

– 50 g castar sugar

– 5 egg yolks

– 425 mL double cream

Step 1: Chop the white chocolate into small chunks, and put the castar sugar for the white chocolate into a pan with 5 tablespoons of water and heat up until the sugar has dissolved and it starts to boil. This is a syrup, and should be added to the white chocolate whilst hot. Add the egg yolks to this mixture and mix all together. I had difficult getting the chocolate to melt so I put some water in a pan and the bowl on top to heat it up, but you have to be careful, not sure if anything would happen to the eggs so take your time and it will all melt. Pour the double cream into another bowl and stir it until it leaves a trail.

Step 2: Next you want to fold the two mixtures together so slowly add the cream to the other bowl and fold as you add it. There will be a lot of this mixture, and once it is all folded together (see right) you want to cover the bowl in clingfilm and place in the fridge to cool. I left it in the fridge for about 3 hours, it needs to be spreadable yet not completely set so that you cannot spread it.

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 190 °C (gas 5). Brush the bases of 2 cake tins, and stick baking paper to it. Whisk the 3 eggs and castar sugar together and sieve the self-raising flour and fold the mixture, to try and get as much air as possible. It doesnt look like a lot of mix to split between the two tins bt it rises well, so make sure it completely spreads over the tin and both of them have roughly the same amount of mixture. Place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden and leave out to cool.

Step 4: Now comes the good part! You’re white chocolate should be set enough so that you can turn it upside down over your head and you don’t get covered in it (You don’t have to do that but its funny for everyone if you do and it goes wrong 😛 ). Place one of the bases on a plate and essentially smother it in the sauce, its likely it will run everywhere, you can place the sauce in the freezer for a while to speed up the cooling, but you should be able to paste it on. Once you have covered the first base place the second one on top, and do the same. I was not looking for presentation, so I poured it all over to completly coat it all! And I must say, divine!

So that is how you make a white chocolate truffle torte! I placed this finished product in the freezer so it set and served chilled, and it can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days! Most of the ingredients for this I already had so this did not cost me a lot at all which is always good, and if you were to buy these ingredients from a shop there would be plenty leftover to make other desserts and cakes.

So this week for us is freshers week! For many Universities the next few weeks will be hectic. From people moving into new houses or halls, to supermarkets being packed with parents frantically buying their son/ daughter food like it’s the beginning of the apocalypse, and that is not even the worst part! To be fair, I am not surprised that parents get their child to stock up on food, likelihood is they will not last long in the first week if they didn’t get anything. It is after all the advantage of having your parents visit so make use of it.

This week is typically notorious for being primarily alcohol driven but also with the hope of trying to comfortably settle everyone into a new environment. It can be a difficult period meeting a bunch of strangers, but most Universities put on plenty of activities during both the day and night so people starting their first year need not be worried. And even if you are someone who does not drink alcohol then you can still have just as much fun at the events put on and not all are related to alcohol so don’t worry about that.

But as a second year now, I don’t think I have a different outlook on freshers because I am a second year, but I feel so different maybe because I have aged? Let me give an example, if someone asked me to go out into town with them for a night out 99% of the time I would tell them I am busy or have plans because the truth is I just want to eat a pizza and watch a film in bed, maybe some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (which I only recently had for the first time).

Personally, I think the idea of it wears off after a while and it becomes more of chore. But what do I know? Maybe I am doing it wrong! :L

Every year they seem to be trying to improve the FRESHERS EXPERIENCE, to make it memorable. When I first came we heard students opinions, these were 3rd, 4th year students and they all mentioned that their freshers experience was the best part of Uni!

If I am being completely honest I am not sure where I am going with this…infact I think I will just summarise my points below…

1. Freshers is starting this week

2. Supermarkets are packed this time of year, avoid them at all cost.

3. I like a pizza with all the meats on it and of course stuffed crust, a film and bed!

This week I thought I would share my spaghetti bolognese! Its really quick unless you are a slow cook like me…..and, for the first time I used quorn mince! Thought I would give the vegetarian version a go, mainly because I saved £2 by just buying the veggie option! :O (a whole £2! That’s so much!!!!).

Anyway, more about all that after;

Ingredients:

– 500 g bag of frozen quorn mince

– As much spaghetti as you usually like

– 2 cartons of passata

– 1 onion

– Olive oil

– 3 carrots

– Bacon (I used 12 rashers, but it depends how much bacon you want in it)

– Garlic Ciabatta

– 200 mL beef stock

– Cheese

– 2 cloves of garlic

Step 1: Chop the garlic, carrots and the onion. Cut the bacon, I remove all of the fat of the bacon so I probably lose about a quarter of what I could put in, I also used 12 rashers because I was making this in bulk!

Step 2: After chopping the vegetables, place the frozen quorn mince into a large saucepan with some olive oil, you do not need to defrost it, you cannot really overcook it and it takes about 12 minutes from frozen to cook. Whilst this is being done, fry the bacon until cooked. Once done add the onion and fry this for a further 5 minutes until the onion is soft and brown, you can then add the carrots after on their own to soften them up slightly or, like me, you can add the quorn mince, carrot and garlic all in one go to the bacon and onion.

Step 3: After a further 5 minutes or so, *add the stock and passata to the mix and mix all together, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for as long as you would want (max 2 hours) all you are doing here is heating everything up, but I tend to let it simmer for about an hour.

*Note – before adding the stock and passata you can add some white wine and allow this to boil off before adding the stock, its not completely necessary.

Step 4: About 10 minutes or so before you have finished step 3, cook your spaghetti and your garlic ciabatta (190 °C for 12 minutes approx), and once all done serve and top with cheese if you like! With this there was also a lot of the bolognese left over, so I put that in a container for freezing, probably enough for 4 more portions, I didnt have portion sized containers so I will either be having big portions or when defrosted half will be stored in the fridge for the next day, when cooking this once defrosted you should add a small amount of beef stock (or just normal water) just to stop it all burning and cook it for about 10 minutes then its ready to go!

My first year at Uni I would always be making this, I never used quorn mince before but I feel like its such a better alternative, for the same amount as lean beef mince (for the fridge) you save £2, you therefore have no rush to use it. Also, this seems to absorb the flavour a lot better than lean beef. In terms of ‘does it taste different?’, not at all! Maybe if it was on its own but in something like this you don’t taste the mince, its just the tenderness that’s different. Whilst I am personally not a vegetarian I will most certainly be using this to what I previously have been doing.

This all cost under £10 with a few bits leftover for other dishes and with more portions for the freezer so this is definitely worth it if you are on a budget yet want something different.